


Chance Meetings

by GettingGreyer



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, Gift Exchange, POV River Song
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-02 11:27:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20275162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GettingGreyer/pseuds/GettingGreyer
Summary: River finds herself meeting a strange woman throughout time and space who seems to know a lot more about River than she knows about her. River doesn't trust the strange woman, who has an almost feral and predatory glint in her eye, but she must know who she is and River finds herself just curious.





	Chance Meetings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chamilet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chamilet/gifts).

> This will be a three-chapter fic, I believe. Currently, it has a T-rating, but I do plan on there being a sex scene so the rating will at that point be upped to E.

It was strange and almost unnerving. River was surrounded by priceless artifacts, guarding by ballistic steel glass and red lasers and with hundreds of eyes watching. It was exactly the type of unique challenge that River craved. She instinctively scanned the building's defenses, her eyes probing for weaknesses as she looked at the locked artifacts for the ones she liked.

But she wasn't here to steal anything.

Instead, she was here as an archeologist—as a scientist. She hadn't wanted to attend the opening of the exhibition, but it was a requirement of the university and she was already toeing the lines of the university's rules and guidelines in more ways than one.

It would've been quite the irritation if she avoided the engagement like she wanted to, but considering that it was her research that was the foundation of the exhibit …. She had little choice but to attend.

"And this is Professor Song." Jenna Amos, River's boss approached her with a group of well dressed individuals behind her. River could practically smell the money from their deep pockets. These were the men and women who had sponsored numerous of the university's projects and exhibits. 

Jenna had told her that it was paramount that she "play nice" with them if she ever wanted to get more funding for her research.

"She is a professor of archeology and it was her findings that laid down the groundwork for most of the research that is on display in this exhibit."

River put on a polite smile. "You're far too kind, Doctor Amos. There were many people who did far more than me, perhaps they would be more well suited to answering any questions?" The words may have been polite, but the veiled message was clear. 

Jenna's face soured as she looked at River with cold and disapproving eyes, but her voice remained sweet and polite. "Nonsense, you undervalue yourself far too much, River. There is_ no one _ better suited to introducing the exhibit to our guests."

River paused for a minute as she thought her next move through. She looked into Jenna's eyes and knew that there was no way she was getting out of this without being severely disciplined. "I'd be honored," River Song said politely, but sarcasm was dripping from her words like venom—she was sure that even the sponsors would notice the slight. 

The corner of Jenna's mouth twitched as her eyes darkened angrily. She looked like she wanted to yell, but she decided against it and stalked away from the group without another word. River knew she was certainly going to be in trouble later and she inwardly grinned at the thought. She couldn’t help herself, even after all this time she loved trouble.

River turned her eyes over to the group. Some of them looked rather bored and River could tell that, like herself, their attendance was forced—hopefully that'll mean they keep their questions to a minimum—but there was one woman in the small crowd who was different.

Her eyes held a slight spark of excitement and she had a thin polite smile on her face, it wasn't forced like the other guests but was instead being suppressed. The corner of her lips were upturned slightly, and River could see the grin that was attempting to force its way past the woman's calm facade.

It was unnerving. The woman appeared almost sinister in nature and her eyes held a delight in them that made River simultaneously curious and anxious.

The woman looked up at River and her cold blue eyes pierced River in a startling gaze. Her lips curled up into a slight grin, before being restrained back into a polite smile. The woman seemed to be almost feral, as if there was only a tight leash restraining her from utter destruction and anarchy.

River tore her eyes away from the woman and looked back to the group in general. "Well, let's begin the tour. I've been told that if you have any questions you are to address them to me."

River quickly took them through the building, stopping quickly in front of each artifact and rattling off the facts and stories behind them. She barely paused for questions, but when the guests managed to force one through River could barely contain her eyes from rolling.

It isn't as if she hates her job, but she finds this part to be so utterly dull. The questions that are asked are all of the boring variety, quick and easy answers that fail to truly color the details and complexities of the history behind them.

She was tired of telling others about history when she had experienced something so much grander—when she _ could _ experience something so much more!

River continued showing off the exhibit and the longer she did the more the back of her neck burns. She could feel the woman's eyes on her, slithering over her skin like a snake. She avoided the temptation to look behind her and catch the woman's icy gaze, but she knew it was there.

It becomes another dull constant, but no—it isn't dull; it's new and exciting.

River can feel her heart race as her thoughts fly as she considers the mysterious woman. There is something different about her, something utterly peculiar but resoundingly familiar and River cannot place it.

Before the end of the tour, the woman has become a mystery and as it finally reaches its end River turns around, searching for her gaze but is met with only the absent crowd. She scans the dull and unblinking faces of the group, searching for the piercing blue stare, but she finds nothing and a heavy weight of disappointment fills her stomach.

"Any final questions?" River asked, but she doesn't wait for a response. "Good." River quickly departs from the group and makes her way through the exhibit, alone.

She was proud of all the work behind it, but it was impossibly lacking. A mere exhibit, locked behind thick marble walls and a polished floor, could never truly capture history with all it's ugly marks of beauty.

River's eyes slid past an ornate bowl, it's surface was decorated with the local tribe’s story of a foreign healer who saved their village from a shadow monster. Her colleagues considered the story to be an intriguing myth, but River knew better—doctors and healers and warriors without weapons, she knew them all to be one man. 

The colorful painted images on the large bowl had dulled with age and it was marred with scratches and wear, but while the figure of the healer was indistinguishable River could practically see the bow tie and annoyingly charming grin etched in the clay. Even when he wasn’t here, her Doctor was always there. He was an inescapable fact of history and had so thoroughly bound himself into every era and fabric of time.

"I would've figured you had enough of the exhibit, what, with guiding them around." A voice says suddenly, interrupting River’s quiet reverie.

River is almost startled by the sudden remark; it wasn't often that people were able to sneak up on her, rarer still that she was nearly startled. She turned to look at her new companion and isn’t surprised to see that it was the strange woman from before, the one with the piercing ice-blue eyes. She looked polite and inconspicuous, but there was a feral glint in her eye. This woman was indeed very peculiar and likely very dangerous. 

Luckily, River Song liked dangerous women.

"I'm reminiscing," River said after a moment. "I remember being on the field in the scorching heat when we found that bowl. Most of the ruins were completely barren and anything that did remain was worn away—this was the most pristine find."

"Remarkable," the woman said and River was surprised to hear genuine wonder in her voice. "In my experience, most things are tattered and destroyed so easily. Something like this—it should have shattered or cracked, had its paint torn from its clay, but it's still here. Still breathing …. It's remarkable."

"You sound like a man I know." River said.

The woman scoffed, she sounded almost offended. "I doubt it. I simply find myself fascinated by the beauty of survival."

River nodded, she could understand that. The two stood in silence for a long moment, the silence comfortable but engulfing as River found herself being drawn into the woman standing next to her.

Finally, River spoke and she surprised herself with the honesty of her words. "I hate museums like this."

The woman's eyebrow raised. "You're an archeologist, a student of history, yet you hate monuments to it?"

River scoffed at the poetic phrasing. "This—" she waved her hand dramatically around her. "—isn't history. Nothing like it. People walk into this pristine building and glance at these pretty exhibits with polished glass and think it's history—but it isn't. I love history. But it's meant to be experienced—in a single moment rather than in a slow languid pace."

The woman stared at River for a long moment, as if absorbing every fabric of her being. Her eyes were searing into her with an all-consuming presence. And finally, a smile appeared on the woman’s lips and she sweetly said, "I see why he likes you.”

"Why who likes me?" She smiled, following along with this strange flirting. 

The woman didn't answer the question, not at first, instead she reached forward and wrapping her arms around River she pulled the woman into a bruising kiss. River responded earnestly, more than happy to forgo the flirtatious dance and ascend into pleasure. She allowed herself to be consumed by the cold passion of the woman embracing her. The woman was dominating, but River wasn't one to submit so she quickly took control of the kiss and the woman moaned into the frenzied kiss. River grinned at the melodic sound. This woman was controlled, but fierce, and River reveled in that passionate fierceness. 

After a long moment, the two parted with gently panting breaths. River was ready to return to the kiss, but as she moved forward to once again capture those lips—they utter a sentence that shattered River’s lust and replaced it with icy fear.

"Now, I _ really _ see why your husband likes you."

River moved away, but she didn’t step back. She stood resolutely in her place as she stared at the domineering woman standing in front of her. "Who are you?" The words were cold, all hint of flirtatious affection was gone and replaced by something sinister. She was made to be a weapon and when threatened those combative instincts rose to the surface, they were never really gone, simply veiled away behind her practiced humanity.

The woman laughed, "It was a pleasure meeting you, River Song."

The lights cut off and the world around River went dark and silent. She reached forward to grab the woman, but she was met with empty air. And in that moment she heard the sound of glass shattered. She turned around, but just as she did, the lights turned back on and the darkness was gone. 

River looked to the floor and saw the source of the sudden sound. The ancient bowl, surviving without tarnish for nearly a millennial, was shattered in a million pieces on the polished floor. And the woman was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> I really love both River Song and Missy. They're two characters which I have read about in numerous fics, but I had yet to write them so approaching them was extremely exciting and intimidating--especially since I was not only writing them, but writing them _together_. And that was a ship which I found interesting but was also very much new too. I'm still not very satisfied with their characterization to be entirely honest, but I hope it was enjoyable to read and didn't come across as too OOC.
> 
> I read this fic over several times to make sure I caught ever spelling error and mistake, but I probably missed a couple, at least, so if you spot any please inform me so I can correct them as soon as possible.


End file.
